The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Dunhuang – Untold Tales, Untold Riches
Hong Kong Heritage Museum
Thematic Galleries 1 to 5 and Function Place on 1/F and Orientation Theatre on G/F
28 November 2014 - 16 March 2015
Jointly presented by: the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Dunhuang Academy
Jointly organised by: the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Dunhuang Academy
Solely sponsored by: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
Supported by: The Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Ltd., Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee), Friends of Dunhuang of Hong Kong
The Dunhuang Caves are home to Buddhist art relics of unparalleled beauty and intricacy as well as a vast repository of cultural information. Known as the "Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages" and the "Library on the Wall", the collections in the caves preserve valuable materials from a variety of disciplines, including religion, art, history and ethnology. In addition to introducing the rich and diverse features of Dunhuang's grotto culture, this exhibition also relates how the Dunhuang Caves survived disaster and adversity in the 20th century and were transformed from a remote and deserted ruin to a sanctuary where medieval culture and art can be appreciated and studied in our modern era.
This exhibition showcases nearly 120 artefacts that represent all the core aspects of Dunhuang grotto art and fully demonstrate the vast diversity of Dunhuang culture. Highlights include three replica caves, a 13-metre-long statue of the Nirvāṇa Buddha, wooden movable type in Uighur script, Buddhist sūtras written in Tibetan script, The Book of Psalms written in Syriac script, the only extant printed copy in the world of Essential Mantras in Tangut script and copies of the cave murals produced by the founding pioneers of the National Dunhuang Art Institute (precursor of the Dunhuang Academy), including Mr Chang Shuhong and Mr Duan Wenjie.
Dunhuang Knowledge Depot
Orientation Theatre, G/F
Come inside and you will know how Dunhuang Caves were cut, how the murals were painted, how division of labour worked between artisans and who funded the cutting of the caves.
Exhibit Highlights
 | Mogao Cave 275 |
| Mogao Cave 220 |  |
 | Seated Buddha |
| Mogao Cave 45 Stucco statues on the west wall High Tang dynasty |  |
 | Mogao Cave 158 Stucco statue of Buddha in Nirvāṇa Mid Tang dynasty |
| Illustration of Nine-Coloured Deer Jātaka West wall of Mogao Cave 257 |  |
 | Life story of the Buddha East slope of the gabled ceiling of Mogao Cave 290 |
| Entering the womb riding on an elephant |  |
 | Leaving the kingdom at midnight South part of ceiling above the niche of west wall of Mogao Cave 329 |
| Bodhisattvas attending sermon |  |
 | Apsaras playing musical instruments South wall of Mogao Cave 285 |
| Water Moon Avalokiteśvara South side of west wall of Yulin Cave 2 |  |
 | Thousand-Hand-and-Thousand-Eye Avalokiteśvara |
| Buddha Tejaprabha and Gods of Astronomy |  |
 | Illustration of Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra North wall of Mogao Cave 45 |
| Illustration of the Parable of Medicinal Herbs in the Lotus Sūtra |  |
 | Wedding Scence North wall of Mogao Cave 445 |
| Music and dance scene with pipa played behind the back |  |
 | Wutai Mountain Mogao Cave 61 |
| Celestial figures surrounding the caisson ceiling |  |
 | Asura Lord West slope of ceiling of Mogao Cave 249 |
| King Father of the East |  |
 | Caisson ceiling design with three rabbits and apsara figures |
| Donor portrait of Lady Wang from Taiyuan in worship |  |
 | Donor portrait of King of Khotan |
| Silk banner with resist-dyed motifs |  |
 | Stele carved with the Six-Syllable Mantra at Mogao Caves |
| Chapter on Universal Gate of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, Lotus Sūtra, in Tangut script |  |
 | Psalms, in Syriac script |
